chapter 17
...................................................................................................................................................EXECUTIVES IN
PARLIAMENTARY
GOVERNMENT
...................................................................................................................................................r. a. w. rhodes
1 Introduction: Mapping the Field
.........................................................................................................................................................................................
The literature on executive government in parliamentary systems can often be more
fun to read because it isnotwritten by political scientists. There are the popular
biographies of individual prime ministers with varying degrees of lurid detail about
their private lives. There are psycho-biographies probing childhood and other forma-
tive experiences. There are the journalists recording the comings and goings of our
leaders, with an eye for a story that is never discomforted by an inconvenient fact.
There are novels. But where are the theories, the models, and the typologies of
executive government in parliamentary systems that distinguish political scientists
from their more racy rivals? In fact, the academic political science literature is
limited—moresothanreadersmightexpectortheimportanceofthesubjectwarrants.
It is limited in part by the continuing need to break free of worn-out debates,
especially in the analysis of Westminster systems. Instead of the tired debate about
the power of the prime minister, the study of executives in parliamentary
- I would like to thank Sarah Binder, Bob Goodin, Bert Rockman, and John Wanna for their advice,
with a special thank you to Robert Elgie for exemplifying the phrase ‘‘constructive criticism.’’